


kiss your knuckles

by killthepoet



Series: iron fist [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Tekken AU, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killthepoet/pseuds/killthepoet
Summary: Sasuke fights for retribution and a place in the tournament.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: iron fist [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2175351
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	kiss your knuckles

**Author's Note:**

> \- this is based on the movie tekken: blood vengeance. rest assured, however, that although this is a tekken au, you don't need to watch the movie or play the game to understand this fic. so far i think the only thing u need to know is that mishima zaibatsu is the main sponsor of the tekken tournaments n their rival is g corporation
> 
> \- if you do know shit about tekken though: sasuke is xiaoyu (minus the personality obviously) in the movie but i sorta based his fighting style on jin and naruto is alisa but i based his fighting style on lars 
> 
> \- the characters feel 100% shoehorned in the tekken narrative because it essentially is.. this is an au bro

Footsteps clack against the pavement like an applause. When Sasuke opens his eyes, Suigetsu is there, silhouette a shield from the spotlight. He grins and says, “You did it!”

Sasuke snorts, eyes shutting once again.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he mutters, and from the distance he hears the roar of the audience. Feels the intrepid energy of the tournament. “How many minutes ‘till my next battle?”

“Five. Want me to call Karin?”

He just grunts, senses going haywire like a watered-down machine. Suigetsu takes that as a yes and the meter-shield from the spotlight disappears for a moment. The only indication Sasuke gets that they’re back is the inspecting touch on his bruised cheek. He hisses.

“You did great, Sasuke.” That’s Kakashi, he’s sure. He hears a few more mumbling and chattering and faint touching but tunes them out until he hears Kakashi say, “You sure you’re good to go for the next battle? Your rib’s pretty banged up.”

His eyes fly open. “I’m fine.”

“Sasuke—”

“I’m fine,” he repeats, as stubborn as the ache in his bones, “And I’ll feel infinitely better if I get fixed up instead of being fussed at.” At this, Kakashi just sighs, standing back up and letting Karin tend to Sasuke’s wounds.

/

Preparing for the tournament is not easy. It’s brutal, it’s repetitive, it’s getting bruises every day and splitting his lip often it looks eternally red because of blood. Kakashi trains him at his dojo thrice a week from four to eight p.m.

Infuriatingly, he also hands Sasuke’s own ass to him eight out of ten times they meet.

“Not enough, Sasuke,” Kakashi drawls. He’s barely even panting—the bastard.

Sasuke pants, turning around again to throw a punch which Kakashi easily dodges and intercepts with a heel of his palm to Sasuke’s nose. “Fuck!” he swears, hands instinctively flying to the sore spot.

“You’re fast and you’ve got a strong kick,” Kakashi says, “but your repetitive techniques only mean you’ll exhaust yourself faster. Stop concentrating your weight on your feet. You’ve got to have equal energy down to the rest of your body.”

His nose is bleeding. “Just get to it.”

“You’re bleeding.” Kakashi examines him. “Need a break?”

Sasuke throws a cracked fist to his jaw as an answer.

It lands.

Kakashi staggers for a bit, thrown off guard. “I see,” he says, holding a hand to a flowering bruise. Then, he gets into stance. “Okay. Again.”

/

“I think there has been a mistake,” Sasuke says.

“Mistake or not, you can discuss it with the principal,” the lady harrumphs, eyes beady and nose in the air like a squawking bird. “Keep your complaints to yourself until we reach the office, Mr Uchiha.”

Sasuke clenches his jaw, following. When they reach, the door smacks against the wall. The room reeks of fake leather and bullshit. He senses someone on the humongous chair facing the wall. “He’s here,” the lady announces grandly, “Had a lot to say on the way but I’m sure you can shut him up, Orochimaru-sama.”

The person in question keeps the chair unturned. “Thank you. You can leave us.”

“Of course,” the lady smiles, bowing and giving Sasuke a haughty look before closing the door.

Orochimaru, whoever he is, remains facing the wall.

“Sasuke-kun, what an honor to meet you.”

He gets straight to the point. “What’s this about me getting expelled?”

Orochimaru laughs pleasantly. “Worried about your track record?” Sasuke can imagine the amused grin. “Don’t worry, you’re not actually getting expelled. You’re getting _transferred_.”

“Says who?”

“Says me,” he tells Sasuke. “If you look at the folder on the table, Sasuke-kun, you’ll see fliers, primers, information about your new school. You’ll see your application forms too. Accomplished and ready and only needing your signature. I know it’s half of the school year already but we arranged for your current classes to get credited, so don’t worry. You won’t get extra load.”

Sasuke examines the files detachedly. “Konoha International School?”

“The finest in the country,” he goads, and when Sasuke turns another page he blinks in disbelief, “It’s also managed by a branch of the Mishima family.”

Sasuke pauses. “You’re not the principal.”

“No, I’m not. I’m here to recruit you as a spy. All you need is to gather intel about one past student. Work for us and we’ll guarantee you a spot in the tournament you’ve been dreaming to be in.”

“Is this some kind of joke?”

“Only if you find it funny,” Orochimaru says. “Do you find it funny, Sasuke-kun?”

He doesn’t answer.

“It’ll be easy. Give us any intel for the six months you’ll be staying and you’ll walk out of that school with an invitation to the King of Iron Fist Tournament.”

“Why can’t you get the intel yourself?”

“Why else?” The chair Orochimaru is sitting on creaks. “We all know the easiest way to get intel is straight from the source. You can easily access student files and get more information from other students. Talk spreads easy among high school students, as you know.”

Sasuke sets the folder down primly. “No.”

“…no?”

“No, I’m not gonna do your dirty work for you,” he says, looking at the familiar Mishima Zaibatsu logo on the folder, decades and decades of nasty history. “You’re gonna have to look for another student to scam.”

When he starts walking away, Orochimaru calls after him wryly, “Your family name will give you a hard time securing a spot in the tournament, you know.”

Sasuke clenches the knob hard. “Don’t you think I’m already aware of that?”

“Hm. Aren’t you wondering why we chose you, out of all people?”

“I don’t care—”

“You should,” Orochimaru says, “Because it concerns Uchiha Itachi.”

Sasuke stops and slams the door shut.

“What the hell do you know about him?” he demands, walking up to Orochimaru’s desk. For the first time, he turns around to face Sasuke and the blood-hungry glint of his eyes is unmistakeable. He has the knee-buckling gaze of someone clearly with power.

Sasuke is not fazed.

“I said, what do you know about Itachi?”

“Just that your brother killed your entire family and disappeared when you were eight,” Orochimaru smiles eerily.

His fists clench. “What does this have to do with him?”

“It has everything to do with him,” Orochimaru says, and Sasuke freezes. “That’s right, Sasuke-kun, the person you will be gathering intel on is your very own brother. Don’t you want to take your sweet, sweet revenge?” He flips the folder to another page—a news clipping of the Uchiha family massacre. “Don’t you want to give back to your brother who did this to your own family?”

/

The worst part about the tournament is the pre-battle interviews.

“Sasuke, Sasuke! Uchiha Sasuke!” they call, cameras flashing, mics hanging above heads like an omen. Things were easier before the media took interest in the tournament. Keeping up a front is taxing when you’ve got a broken rib.

“Sasuke, is it true that your family was a major shareholder of G corporation—”

“—how do you feel reaching the semi-finals despite your history—”

“—can you share a little bit about your training and workout regimen—”

“—who are you looking forward to battle in the tournament?”

With Kakashi’s punishing grip on his shoulder, he redirects his gaze to the blinding flashes and says, like a robot, “I look forward to every single fighter in this arena.”

“But do you have an opponent in mind?” the reporter presses.

Kakashi’s grip tightens.

Sasuke grits his teeth. “Yes, I do,” he says, and the flashes turn crazier, the media excitedly chanting _who who who!!!_ like a kid on Christmas day. Keep a mysterious façade, Kakashi always says. Allow reveals but not too much. Satisfied, Kakashi pats his shoulder and steals the mic, “Sasuke has to prepare now for this much awaited opponent of his so we have to go. Please look forward to his battles.” Then, he leads them away from the crowd, out of the limelight.

/

Sasuke meets Naruto in a fight.

That is, they’re fighting on the same side and not on opposite sides of the ring. When Sasuke pins their last standing opponent and knocks him cold to the ground, Naruto suddenly looks up from where he’d been dusting his shirt and says, “There are more people coming.”

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. “How could you tell?”

Before Naruto can answer though, a dozen more teenage boys sprint angrily to their direction, sleeves rolled up to their elbows and bandanas on their unruly heads. “What the—” Sasuke throws Naruto a nasty look. “Who the hell did you piss off?”

“Just some kids,” he says, sheepish.

“Some kids?” Sasuke repeats incredulously. “These are a battalion of street thugs. There are only two of us.”

Naruto puffs his chest. “You’ve seen what we’re capable of together! We can defeat them!”

Sasuke looks at him then at the crowd wielding imaginary pitchforks. “Don’t be stupid,” he says. “There are some battles you have to let go.”

“But—”

“I’m leaving you to fight them yourself if you keep being stubborn.”

Naruto frowns. “You wouldn’t.”

“Watch me.” Sasuke raises an eyebrow, and Naruto opens his mouth, closes it, before grunting, “Fine.”

In less than a second, they take off south. Losing the thugs take almost twenty minutes. By the time they guarantee their escape, they’re spent and panting next to a riverbank two miles away from their school.

Sasuke closes his eyes and tries to level his breathing.

After a few seconds, he feels something cold next to his cheek and sees a hand stretched out to him with a bottle. “Thanks,” he mutters, taking a big sip. Naruto smiles and towers over his hunched figure on the ground.

When Sasuke hands the bottle back, he can’t help but ask, “How the hell are you not tired?”

“Oh.” Naruto blinks. “Well, I have good stamina.”

Sasuke looks at him unbelieving.

“Well anyway, I just want to say,” Naruto segues, “Thanks for the help back there. I had it covered before you came but having a helping hand certainly didn’t hurt. But I was doing great before you, really!”

Sasuke scoffs.

“I’m serious!” Naruto insists, “Believe me! You saw how I already took down three of those guys. I’m trained for this, you know?” He grins wide which marginally dims when his phone vibrates. “That’s the alarm Iruka-sensei set for the bell. We should probably head back.”

Sasuke stands up and headstarts their trek back.

Halfway through the school gates, Naruto turns to him and says, “Hey, I never got your name,” but Sasuke doesn’t answer, marching forward and ignoring Naruto’s dubious calls behind him.

/

Sasuke knocks on the door. From the inside, a muffled voice says, “Come in.”

What—or _who_ —he sees in the room is unexpected. Naruto turns his head to the newcomer and his eyes light up when he sees who it is. He grins. “Oh! It’s you!”

The principal—Tsunade—looks between them. “You two know each other?”

“Yes, we met yesterday when he helped me fi—”

“—gure out how to rescue a cat we saw stuck on a tree,” Sasuke interrupts smoothly, doing his very best not to cut the damn fool. “I came across him behind the school trying to rescue the cat and we introduced ourselves to each other as I helped him out.”

Naruto blinks. “We did?”

Sasuke looks straight ahead.

“That’s good,” Tsunade says, clearly bored. “It’s no problem then if I tell you Naruto is going to show you around the school premises?” Sasuke represses a sigh and from the corner of his eyes, he sees Naruto brighten. “The brat’s new, too. Only a month in since his transfer. I figured it’d be nicer if a fairly new student showed you the ropes because they’d know what a new student like you would be looking for.” Tsunade snorts. “The guidance counsellor Iruka says you can sympathize with each other too, if that makes sense.”

 _No it doesn’t_ is what he wants to say but Naruto beats him to it with a, “Of course, that makes perfect sense,” and a blinding grin.

“Good. Welcome to Konoha International, Mr Uchiha,” Tsunade says, leaning back and putting both her feet on the table. “Now get out of my office."

/

“Hey.” Naruto runs to catch up to him. “Why did you lie?”

Sasuke looks at him then back front, unspeaking.

“You know, back there,” Naruto says, scratching his head. “You said you helped me rescue a cat from a tree instead of telling her you helped me fight.” He blinks. “Why did you lie?”

“Were you born yesterday?”

“Was I—what?”

Sasuke throws him a vexed look. “We both would’ve gotten detention if she found out we participated in a fight during class hours.”

“Oh.” Naruto furrows his eyebrows and doesn’t say anything more.

He appears to be thinking hard about it like he can’t grasp the concept. In the ruminating silence, Sasuke realizes Naruto is still following him as they walk the school grounds. He looks at Naruto and says, “Why are you still here,” toned like a bland statement and not a genuine question.

Naruto blinks. “Well, I’m supposed to be showing you around, aren’t I?”

“Tch,” he says. “It’s not like Tsunade’s gonna find out you didn’t and even if she did, I doubt she’d even care.”

“Oh,” Naruto says. Irritatingly, he seems to be making a lot of little realizations today as though it’s his first time experiencing the outside world. “Well. But, um.” He clears his throat. “I want to!”

Sasuke exhales deeply.

Naruto seems to be looking at him for signs of… something. When Sasuke doesn’t say anything, just continues walking and staring straight ahead, Naruto brightens and walks beside him happily. Then, he says, “Oh hey, what’s your name!”

“It’s Sasuke,” Sasuke mutters after a while. “And you’re not even showing me around. You’re just walking beside me.”

“Oh, right,” he laughs, and tugs on Sasuke’s wrist. Sasuke looks at him, alarmed. “Come on, this way. You said you wanted me to show you around.”

“I didn’t say that.”

Naruto remains tugging, eyes bright.

“Do you even know where we’re going?”

“Of course,” he grins. “I have the whole school layout memorized.” When Sasuke looks at him unbelievingly, his grin just grows wider and the grip on his wrist more insistent. Sasuke resigns to his fate and lets himself be led.

/

Sasuke steps out of the bathroom. Hand cold, he buries his fingers in the towel and brings it to his head. The terrycloth rubs his hair dry. Back in the room, Naruto sits next to the bay window, feet tucked under his knees.

He looks when Sasuke enters. “Hey.”

The arriving dawn seems to stretch out on the treetops for miles. There had been a fog earlier according to the news. A forecast of snow the next morning, too. Naruto’s eyes follow as he sits in front of him.

“You bruise too quickly,” Naruto says, eyeing his discolored skin.

“And you bruise too little,” Sasuke mutters in disdain.

“Monster recovery skills,” he grins, and Sasuke drags his eyes away from its brightness to look outside. “It’s in my system.”

All Sasuke says is, “Tch.”

Naruto laughs, stretching his legs until his ankles nudge Sasuke’s knees. Sasuke warily looks at it but doesn’t pull away. Naruto says, sudden and solemn, “Sorry for what happened back there.”

Sasuke doesn’t say anything.

“And thank you. For…” His face contorts and he shifts uncomfortably. “I didn’t think you would do that for me after the stunt I tried to pull.”

“We’ve already talked about this,” Sasuke says, a bit stiffly. “He was being a bother, anyway.”

Naruto chuckles uncertainly. “They’ll be after you now.”

“I know.”

“Will they hurt you?”

Outside, the landscape has darkened enough to show only the mirror of their room: a single light, and Naruto’s eyes on his. Sasuke says, “I’d like to see them try.”

/

Sasuke kicks his opponent upwards and knocks him back down to the ground. The force of it leaves a crack on the pavement—a glass shard crown around his opponent’s bloody head. He doesn’t stand back up.

With a deafening bell, the board announces Sasuke as the winner.

He can barely register being ushered to the back. There’s the low hum of Kakashi talking to someone else. Tamping down his turbulent nerves, he looks up to see Suigetsu snickering at him.

“Someone’s being extra aggressive,” he intones.

Sasuke ignores him. Three minutes of break, this time. Karin none too gently dabs on his wounds as he sits on the floor in a daze. Kakashi sits beside him to say, “Good job, Sasuke. You’re so close.”

He asks, “How many more to go?”

“I told you not to think of that—”

“How many?”

“Three left,” Kakashi says, eye sharp. “Don’t get too reckless now.”

Blood roaring, he rests his head on the wall behind him and closes his eyes.

/

Feet light, Sasuke throws himself up the iron gates and lands on the balls of his feet. The school grounds are empty, the buildings palatial and imposing. Everything is dark. He quietly toes past the grounds and keeps his eyes alert.

Getting to the office is relatively easy. Through the open layout, Sasuke sprints from one corridor to the other. There have been no security guards so far and there has to be one somewhere. When he reaches the door to the office, the knob is understandably locked. He stands back before kicking it open.

Sasuke switches the light on. What greets him is stacks and stacks of documents. Folders, papers everywhere that the room starts smelling like it. He closes the door and starts his search.

/

Orochimaru folds his feet under his knees. “Sasuke-kun.”

Sasuke eyes what seems to be a new cut on Orochimaru’s neck. Training his eyes upward, he sees Orochimaru smiling the way he does. He’s far from scared but it makes Sasuke’s skin prickle in alarm, somehow. Like it’s natural reaction.

From the open shoji, a woman in silver garbs walks in to pour them tea.

“Tea, Sasuke-kun.” Orochimaru tilts his own cup to Sasuke’s direction. “Have some.”

Once the woman slithers outside like a snake, Sasuke says, “What do you want?”

Orochimaru smiles. “Always getting to the point, I see,” he hums around his cup of tea. “We’ll get to that but please. Have some tea. It would be impolite of you to refuse, and being impolite isn’t exactly typical in the upbringing of someone like you, hm?”

Sasuke takes a long swig on the cup and slams it back down on wood—loud.

“What do you want?” he repeats.

Orochimaru laughs. “Impatient as ever. I hope you’re applying that to your task.”

Sasuke looks at him.

“Progress report, Sasuke,” Orochimaru says, setting his own cup down. “I need to know where you are in your assignment. What you have found out so far. It’s been two weeks, you know.” His eyes glint. “I need to know if you’re worth keeping on my side.”

Sasuke narrows his own. “I was never on your side.”

“Right. Of course,” he grins sickly as though there was something infinitely amusing about it all. “But whether you’re on our side or not, you’re still tied to us. You have a job to do. And I need to know if you’re actually doing it.”

“I’m working on it.”

“Working on it?”

“I acquired essential information,” he says, “and I should be able to confirm it soon.”

“And the boy?”

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. “What boy?”

“I know you’ve been making friends, Sasuke-kun. Is he impeding your investigation?” Orochimaru asks. “Do you want us to get rid of him?”

Knowing exactly who he’s talking about, Sasuke schools his face to careful indifference. “I think I can identify a threat by myself.”

“I don’t want to need to remind you of your loyalty, Sasuke.”

He tightens his hand to a fist. “I told you—I’m not on your side. I’m not your worker. I don’t belong to you. We just happen to have the same goal and that’s it.”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Orochimaru smiles eerily, “And since we have the same goal, I hope you don’t forget about that goal, hm?” His smile graduates to a blood-curling grin. “We can’t afford distractions.”

“He barely even means anything to me.”

In a split second, a snake crawls out of Orochimaru’s sleeve and makes to attack. Sasuke glaringly stares at its claws and the dark crevice of its open mouth, unperturbed. Orochimaru taunts, “I wouldn’t think of keeping secrets, Sasuke-kun.”

“I’ll update you once I confirm the information,” Sasuke says blankly, and the snake stares at him for a long second before it slithers back into its master’s sleeve. Orochimaru picks up his cup of tea and smiles around it.

/

 _Uchiha Itachi_ , it reads. _Male. 2126011. Null._

His grip on the folder tightens as he stares at the information. On the upper left of the paper is Itachi’s picture and he looks the same way he did right before he left. He stares at it before slamming it back down.

He boots up the computer nudged between a wall and a shelf. Outside, the hallways are still dark and quiet. The system pulls up a security protocol for a password. He pauses and looks around for a clue. He searches everything: the coffee cup stained stacks of recycled papers, the month-old post it notes, the racks of classified files. Then, he sees a number taped underneath the desk. When he tries it out, the system opens.

What rotten security for a supposedly elite school.

 _2126011_. He types the number in the student data base and a profile pulls up.

He slumps on the chair and stares.

If he could brand it beneath his eyelids, he would. He memorizes the address in a single moment and it repeats in his head in a loop. It could be a fake address. It could be an old one. He could go to it and see nothing but an empty house. Still, it’s something.

He shuts the computer off and puts everything back where it belonged except for Itachi’s folder. Something tugs inside him—like a smarting wound being opened, stitch by stitch by stitch. Ignoring it, he places the folder in his bag and it hits the G corporation token wedged at the bottom, something his father had given him ages ago. He pauses for a moment before killing the lights and stepping back out into the hall.

When he turns, he gets slammed into a corner tucked between gigantic pillars. His breath is knocked out of his chest. The moment he struggles, a warm hand slots itself on his mouth.

“What,” Naruto breathes, eyes clear and blue and wide, “are you doing here?”

Sasuke stares.

He peels his hand off Sasuke’s mouth but keeps his arms bracketed between his head. Sasuke makes to move but gets pinned back to the wall. “It’s probably better if you don’t move,” Naruto murmurs, too close, breath too hot, and Sasuke feels his muscles lock. “Someone’s coming.”

They stay still for a while as footsteps approach the nearby hall adjacent to where the office is. In the pin drop silence of the night, Sasuke hears a door open and then close.

After a few more grueling seconds, Naruto finally pulls away. “We should probably go.”

/

“What were you doing back there?” Naruto asks once they are out of the school grounds.

Sasuke shoots him a look. “I should ask you the same.”

“Well.” Naruto furrows his eyebrows. “I asked you first!”

“I’m not gonna ask for your reason if you don’t ask for mine,” he murmurs, folder digging against his bag which sits on his tailbone. Naruto stares at him funny and says, “You’re a strange guy.”

Sasuke just stares ahead, not responding.

Interestingly, no more questions come. Naruto must be hiding something too, then. _Who the hell are you_ , he wants to ask but what comes out of his mouth is, “Why are you following me?”

“Wha—” Naruto blinks incredulously, “I’m not! I just happened to be in the school like you, that’s all.”

“I meant why are you following me home,” Sasuke says blandly.

“Oh!” Naruto stops. “Wait, where do you live? Isn’t it weird that I see you every day but I don’t even know where you live or what your favorite color is?” He stops when Sasuke starts looking at him weirdly. “Anyway, where do you live?”

“Close.”

“Me too,” he smiles brightly. “I live near this small dojo. How about you?” When Sasuke doesn’t answer, he tries, “Do you—do you want to walk home together?”

Sasuke jabs a thumb to the left. “I turn here.”

“Oh,” Naruto says, disappointed as he looks the other. “So we’re on opposite sides, then. Okay, well.” He clears his throat and straightens out. “Walk home safe!”

Sasuke nods.

Naruto stares at him for a moment before Sasuke turns to leave. Walking away, he hears Naruto yell out, “Bye, Sasuke!” to his back, and Sasuke jams his hands in his pockets. The sharp edge of the folder digs into his back but Naruto’s stare pierces harder.

/

It’s a dilapidated house off the main road. On the beaten path to the door, cattails rise from the overgrowth like royal soldiers with arms held up. The whole place looks like an area the sun never rises upon.

There’s no one around for miles.

Sasuke walks to the door. The engawa groans under his weight as if to complain being woken up after a long, long time. When he tries the door, it slides open easy.

Nobody’s there. Looking around, it looks like nobody has been for a while. It’s the type of abandoned that looks like somebody went outside one morning and never returned. A low table sits at the center of the room with two empty cups and a plate of stale mooncake. There’s the propped up tatami mats, pots of plants, insect-eaten walls dividing the living room and the kitchen. On the stove is a teapot filled with dull water. Somebody left the kitchen window open.

It feels weird to imagine that Itachi lived here—if he actually did. But it makes sense, in a way. Except for the leftover signs of life, everything is arranged anal. Too neat, too minimal. A strange sentiment begins to shroud him but this only serves to pull him back to his original intent. Discarding the very last of his thoughts, he walks to the bedroom to find what he came for.

He doesn’t know what he’s expecting, really. Knowing that he would’ve never found Itachi in this house, he’d settled for clues. A letter, a note. Proof that Itachi actually lived here, maybe. The only documents he could find are electricity bills addressed to nobody.

Right before he leaves the room, he sees a paper wedged between the wall and the closet, something a careless eye could’ve easily forgone. He heaves the closet with minimal effort and the paper drops to the ground. Picking it up, the first thing he sees nearly makes him drop it: on the upper left of the paper is Itachi's signature and the Mishima Zaibatsu logo.

/

Naruto follows him around like a pest ever since the first encounter.

Somehow, he manages to find out Sasuke lunches alone on the rooftop. He has unfailingly showed up every single time as though he had made it his personal mission to stick his nose up Sasuke’s business.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sasuke asked the first time.

“Hanging out with you,” Naruto said simply. “Iruka-sensei thinks it’s good for me to make friends.”

“He probably doesn’t mean me.” Sasuke moved away. “Go make other friends and stop following me.”

That was before Sasuke learned firsthand that Naruto had the single-minded determination of a bull seeing red. Naruto still showed up the next day with two cups of ramen this time, nudging the other to Sasuke who eyed it with disdain. He showed up the following day too, and the next. And then the next. Even despite Sasuke explicitly driving him away.

“Can I be alone,” Teeth gnashing, Sasuke tried asking nicely—once. “Please.”

Naruto looked at him, startled. “Yeah, of course. Sorry about that, Sasuke.” And then he left, leaving Sasuke to disbelievingly look at his trailblazing back.

Oddly and most surprisingly, he doesn’t show up for three days. The fourth day, he plops down next to Sasuke on the ground as though he never left, proffering his second cup of ramen. Sasuke accepts it for the first time.

“Don’t get used to it,” Sasuke mutters, avoiding Naruto’s blinding grin.

/

Naruto has been staring too much.

He can feel it: those clear blue eyes following him around like an itch. Maybe it shouldn’t be a big deal, and maybe it really isn’t. After all, there are only two of them in the 13-square meter room. There’s only so much to look at from the unmoving forest outside to the endless sky to the minimal interior of the room. And besides, Naruto is naturally curious. He swallows things up hungrily—especially the rare tidbits of information he manages to coax out of Sasuke.

“How long have you been fighting?” he asks one time.

“Long enough,” Sasuke says, and it’s a mistake looking at Naruto, really, because the open look on his face tugs out more words. “My family has been banned from fighting in the tournaments for two decades now since we partnered with G corporation but we used to be a family of fighters.”

Naruto leans forward, interested. “But do you like it?”

“What?”

“Do you like it?” He drops his chin to his propped-up knee. “Do you fight because you like it or because your family does? Do you know why you fight?”

Sasuke looks away. “I like it. I like the feeling. My family had sworn off fighting but my father secretly allowed lessons for me and my brother. It's the only thing in common I have with brother and at the same time it's the only thing that separates me from him because we have different fighting styles." 

Naruto hums, openly staring.

“And… you?”

“Hm?”

He tries, “Why do you fight?”

He expects Naruto to smile—to grin another one of his dazzling grins. To kiss his knuckles and boast and say _because I’m amazing at it!_ in his own Naruto way. But Naruto just says, with a marginal tilt of his lips that can’t even count as a smile, “Because it’s the only thing I’ve known my entire life.” He pushes his chin off his knee and leans back on the floorboards, eyes to the ceiling. “It makes me feel human.”

/

Sasuke stares at the white paper bag.

“Go to the festival with me!” Naruto yells to the ground, body in a perfect ninety-degree angle. When Sasuke doesn’t reply, his grip on the bag tightens. “Please!”

“What are you—”

The fool is still talking to the ground. “I don’t even know if I’m doing this right but the old lady said giving gifts is customary whenever you ask someone to the festival and the dango looked so nice and the old lady was so nice too so I bought them.”

“Get up, idiot,” Sasuke hisses, watching Naruto bend his back further. “What the hell.”

Naruto straightens up hesitantly. “They taste really good.”

“You ate them?”

“Just a few!” He thrusts the bag closer to Sasuke’s face. “I saved some for you, of course!”

Sasuke incredulously shakes his head. “People don’t usually eat the food they plan to give to others.”

“Oh!” Naruto looks startled, “They don’t?”

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. “You’ve never done this before.”

“No,” he agrees, a bit sheepish, if you could call it that. “I’ve never really interacted with much—well, anyway, sorry about that! I can buy you a new batch if you want. The old lady says she’ll be there in all three days of the festival. That is if you—if you’d come with me.” He grins unsurely.

The hand offering the bag of cookies turns more insistent so Sasuke takes it. “I don’t really like crowds.”

“Oh.” Naruto frowns. “Well, that’s okay! We’ll avoid them.”

“I don’t like loud noises too.”

“I’m sure there are quiet places in the festival!”

Sasuke snorts.

Naruto looks at him expectantly. “You’ll go with me, right?”

All Sasuke does is tilt his head as if to consider. He walks away, bag of dango swinging in his hand, leaving Naruto yelling after his retreating back.

/

Appropriately, there is a crowd in the festival big enough to eat them whole. Sasuke quietly follows Naruto as he navigates them both. At every step, there always seems to be something pressing against them: a shoulder, a sleeve, a hip. It’s driving Sasuke crazy, quite frankly.

“Here, here it is!” says Naruto excitedly. “There’s the old lady’s stall! I’m back!” He grins, head ducking under the tiny stall’s awnings. “I brought him here!”

The old lady appears below the counter from where she’d been fiddling with the stove controls. Instantly, her face brightens. “Naruto!”

“Hello!” he says back happily. “We’re here! I told you I’d bring him with me!”

The corner of her eyes wrinkle appreciatively. “Good job, Naruto!” she smiles at Sasuke who looks away. “What a lucky guy you are.”

Naruto laughs, pleased. “We’re here to buy more!”

“Of course,” she says. “Coming right up!”

Naruto watches her work in fascination. The festival around them makes Sasuke feel like he’s drowning. Someone yelps excitedly in the crowd, followed by a chorus of murmurs, and then suddenly people are streamlining to the side. Pressing against them even more and taking up space. A floating parade starts marching across the parted space which elicits a louder chorus from the crowds until the music and hoots and the laughter are swimming crazily in Sasuke’s head. He doesn’t even realize he’s inched closer to Naruto until Naruto calls him. When he looks, all he sees are lashy blue eyes with a concerned furrow between them.

“Sasuke,” he says. “Are you okay?”

Sasuke feels his already clenched jaw tighten even more.

“Do you.. do you want to leave?”

“What do you think, idiot?” he snaps, and Naruto blinks, surprised at the tone. Depositing both dango on one hand, he holds Sasuke’s wrist with the other and Sasuke doesn’t even complain, allowing himself to be tugged away from the deafening chaos of it all.

/

Voice somber, Naruto says, “I’m sorry about that.”

Sasuke doesn’t reply, eyes closed as he rests his head on the tree trunk behind him. He hears Naruto sit on the space beside him. The sounds are muted here like they’re sitting squat at the bottom of the swimming pool, the surrounding trees and the tall height of the pagoda separating them from the festival across the other side.

“Do you… need anything?” Naruto offers, and Sasuke debates saying _some silence, maybe._ “This dango? A head massage? Some water?” When he doesn’t answer, Naruto presses more. “Can I help? Sasuke?”

He accepts if only to stop Naruto spiraling into unnecessary guilt. “Water.”

“Right, yes, of course!” Naruto’s voice brightens instantly.

“My wallet’s in my jacket pocket.”

“What? No, no, no—”

Sasuke grabs it for him and hopes he tosses it successfully to his face.

“Sas—” It does, thankfully, if Naruto’s yelp is anything to go by. “No, wait. I’ll pay!”

“Just go and get it, idiot.”

“Sasuke,” he complains.

“Naruto,” Sasuke murmurs back, eyes opening to stare at him straight. Naruto blinks back, startled, and it’s clear he’s given up when he sighs and flips the wallet open. Sasuke sees his mouth open to a grumble until it closes. His eyes fixate on the G corporation token Sasuke had transported from his bag to his wallet. After a long minute, he asks, “…what is this?”

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. “Just go get the water, Naruto.”

But Naruto just remains intensely staring at the token. Then, he straightens, eyes glazing over until it turns to a steely blue, cold and blank and unfamiliar. With a flat, robotic voice, he starts reciting, “Activate emergency mode. Code red. In contact with possible G corporation agent. Awaiting command.”

Sasuke stares at him. “Naruto?”

After a while, he hears a toneless beep. Then, Naruto says, “Copy. Eliminating agent,” and he lunges for Sasuke who instinctively dodges. Both dango and Sasuke’s wallet fall to the ground. They both stand up, staring at each other. Sasuke carefully steps back a few inches more as Naruto gets into stance.

“I have been programmed to defeat you,” Naruto says evenly and attacks.

/

The crowd parts for him. Overhead, the speakers announcing his name gets drowned by the animalistic cheers and the deafening applause and the hundreds of feet thundering against the floor like a low drum. His temples throb.

“…Uzumaki Naruto!” booms the speaker, and Sasuke’s head snaps up, whip-fast. He sees the tiny slice of space between the people making way and sees that familiar blond head, the same blue eyes staring at him.

Sasuke feels his throat clamor in anger.

Across the ring, Naruto looks at him, eyes bright like a flash. Sasuke sees red. He tightens his fists. He feels his blood go from a slow trickle to a wild river rush in his veins. Naruto looks like he wants to jump out of his bones.

“….fight!”

They meet in the middle.

/

Naruto throws a low kick to his ankles and spins his body for another. Sasuke instinctively blocks the feet with crossed arms before it hits his face. He uses the grip to spin Naruto back clockwise and kick him back to the ground. It feels surreal, it feels like this shouldn’t be happening but it makes him feel alive anyway. When Naruto blocks his next kick with a strong fist and throws him back a few feet, he realizes he isn’t dealing with a regular opponent, something that isn’t human. Despite his initial confusion, he feels his blood awaken in an exhilarating rush.

He knows he has to stand up before Naruto gets to him so he does. The knife-sharp pain on both his temples have briefly subsided to make way for the thrumming in his bones. He counters every single punch, every single kick. It’s hard going for offense when Naruto seems so intent on killing him if his barrage of attacks is anything to go by. Still, he manages. The split-second Naruto pauses, he throws him to the air with an upward kick and back down with a punch to his core. Naruto heaves. He barely retaliates Sasuke’s punches to his face but eventually manages to block one. It throws Sasuke off and is awarded by an uppercut to the jaw.

He holds his defence again, and he can see the same steel blue in Naruto’s eyes. The usual flicker of his eyes whenever he looks at Sasuke is gone. Crossed arms meeting, Sasuke says, “What the hell are you?”

“I have direct orders to kill you,” Naruto answers.

With a mechanical whirl, thrusters appear from behind his lower legs. His entire body envelopes itself in a burning yellow. Sasuke watches incredulously as the jets briefly boost Naruto up from the ground. He uses the leverage to punch Sasuke across the face, knuckles now rock hard, like metal. Sasuke feels blood trickling down his nose. He deflects one last punch and throws his own but it only serves for Naruto to get a hold of his fist as he pins it to the ground. He also catches the other one wildly flailing and pins it back down too.

Sasuke looks at him with burning eyes. “You’re pitiful.”

“And you’re about to die,” Naruto says back tonelessly, his thrusters tucking itself back in.

“What are you?”

“I was ordered to eliminate any contact from G corporation.”

“G corporation?” Sasuke repeats incredulously. “I’m not on their side.”

“So are you with the Mishima Zaibatsu?”

“I don’t work for them either,” he spits.

“There is conflicting data surrounding this information.” Naruto stares at him. “You’re lying to me.”

Sasuke’s eyes flash. “I’m not the one getting lied to.”

He tucks his knee back in and hits Naruto on the stomach with it. It barely hurts, he’s certain, but it’s enough for the hands holding his wrists down to loosen. Sasuke immediately thrashes his arms away and punches Naruto across the jaw. He throws another uppercut from the other side and thunders out his strongest kick to the chest until Naruto’s flying back a few feet.

Sasuke walks to him, eyes glinting murderously. “If you get up, I’ll kill you.”

Naruto just stares at him, blinking. Suddenly, he says in that same robotic voice, “Heat signature detected overhead,” and Sasuke barely registers his words when a loud explosion blasts.

Ears ringing, Sasuke staggers back until he lands on the ground next to Naruto. They stare at where the pagoda used to be vanish in smoke that makes Sasuke’s eyes water. Naruto’s own body whirrs in a crazy, mechanic hum at the surrounding fire. From the billowing fumes, a figure appears dotted by a dozen more at its side.

“Sasuke,” says that painfully familiar voice.

“Orochimaru,” he returns, ear still ringing, fists clenching. “What are you doing here?”

“Progress report, Sasuke. Didn’t we talk about this before?” Orochimaru says, and his men circle around Naruto and Sasuke like they’re prey. “I need to know if you’re actually doing your job. And I’m delighted to see that you are.” He then eyes Naruto sitting beside him. “So you’re Minato’s robot. You’re not what I expected at all.”

When Sasuke looks at Naruto, there’s nothing but a blank look on his face. “From whom do you take your orders?”

“From myself,” Orochimaru smiles. “Now, give me all the intel you have.”

“You don’t have proper clearance to acquire that information.”

He laughs slow. “I’ll stick wires in your head if I have to.”

The men start closing in on Naruto. He fights back fiercely but there’s a stagger to his steps. Still, he brings down a couple of guys. It takes long for them to finally have Naruto on his knees but they do it anyway. He drops to the ground as his body gives out another whirr and they start kicking him like a metal tin can. When one man crouches, hand burying itself on Naruto’s hair and pulling, Sasuke grits his teeth and snaps. His reaction is automatic—almost. He brings the guy down and stands in front of Naruto, indignant eyes to Orochimaru and his remaining men.

Behind him, he hears Naruto heave out, “Sasuke…”

“Oh, what’s this?” Orochimaru tilts his head, considering Sasuke. “I thought the boy wasn’t going to be trouble for our mission?”

“ _You’ve_ been trouble the entire time.”

“Getting soft, Sasuke-kun,” he croons, and Sasuke clenches his jaw. “Are you sure you want to do this? What about our goals, hm?”

“You worry about your own,” Sasuke says. “I’ll worry about mine. Like I said, I was never on your side to begin with. I know the truth, Orochimaru. It’s pretty stupid of you to assume I wouldn’t find out and just blindly do your dirty work for you and find Itachi.”

“It’s this robot implanting ideas into your mind, isn’t it?”

“You’re a waste of my time.”

Orochimaru eyes Naruto lying still behind him. “Why are you compromising everything for a bag of cogs and bolts?”

Before Sasuke can open his mouth to answer, he hears Naruto slur, “I’d watch my words, if I were you,” and Sasuke sees a ball of flame zoom past his side in a blur until it reaches Orochimaru. Their already smoke-filled surroundings get buried in more blinding smoke until Sasuke feels a familiar tug on his wrist.

He lets himself be led away.

/

Sasuke finds out a lot of things on the way: Naruto was tasked to spy on the Mishima Zaibatsu, he works for neither the Mishima family and the G corporation, and he was programmed to eliminate threats from both sides. Later as they’re hiding in the bushes, Sasuke can feel his burning stare at the side of his head.

“What?” he snaps, finally looking at Naruto who does nothing but blink at him raptly.

Naruto just asks, “Are you sure?”

“Sure about _what?_

“Your decision,” he says. “You’re gonna be their enemy now, you know.”

Sasuke snorts. “As if I was ever on their side.”

He looks away when Naruto continues staring at him. There have been soldiers dispatched to look for them and they’ve been hiding ever since. It’s nearing dark, the forest starting to get swallowed up by yolk-colored light. He says, “We need to find shelter before it gets dark.”

“In the woods?”

“Anywhere but the woods.”

“I can scan for nearby accommodations,” Naruto offers, and Sasuke raises an eyebrow at him. “Don’t worry. I’m recovering. I’m programmed to recover quick once damage has been detected. I’m in the process now but I can still handle something as easy as scanning.” He blinks until he breaks into a grin, that familiar flicker on his eyes back. “So?”

Sasuke reverts his gaze and murmurs, “Go ahead and do your job.”

Naruto finds a tiny hotel with two vacant rooms. It’s nestled in the nearby mountains where Naruto claims is far enough for Orochimaru’s men to not track them. When they settle in the room, Sasuke stares as Naruto plugs the wires on his back to the lone outlet on the wall. He situates himself on the bay window and places his palms to his lap neatly.

Sasuke turns away and retreats to the shower.

/

Lying low is excruciating. Everyday the sun bleeds and it’s another delay. Another day of his brother running loose. Naruto notices him getting restless by the third day. He asks Sasuke, “What’s your goal?”

“What?”

“Your goal,” he repeats. “Orochimaru said you and him had the same goal. And it’s clearly the very thing that wakes you up in the morning and why you’re restless right now. What is it?”

Sasuke doesn’t answer.

“I have a goal too,” Naruto offers, smiling. “It’s in my embedded programming to look for my dad, Minato. He’s the one who created me. I have been looking for him for as far as I can remember but I haven’t found him yet.” He looks out the window. “It’s the only thing keeping me alive other than fighting.”

After a long while, Sasuke says, “I’m looking for my brother.”

Naruto peels his gaze from the idyllic landscape.

“He… killed my family when I was a kid,” he admits, looking way to avoid seeing Naruto’s expression. “And then he ran away. I haven’t seen him since.”

“Sasuke…”

“For a long, long time, I thought it was because G corporation had us eliminated. Because we were becoming major shareholders of the company, they viewed us as a threat,” he says. “At least that’s what Itachi had me believed. But then I visited the place where he used to live and saw the documents telling the truth. He had been working with the Mishima Zaibatsu all along."

Naruto’s eyes widen. “So he’s with Orochimaru?”

“He used to be,” he assumes. “But the fact that Orochimaru had me looking for him means that he strayed or betrayed them. I need to know why he’s doing what he’s doing.” His hands tighten to fists. “I need to know why he killed my family.”

“I can help you.”

Sasuke turns to him. “What?”

“I can help you,” Naruto repeats. “I can look for information about Itachi in my database. Maybe there’s something in there.” When Sasuke blinks at him blankly, he smiles, unsure, and straightens up to say, “Requesting permission to private database.”

In less than a few seconds, he frowns. To Sasuke, he says, “My connection is either offline or they’re denying my access.”

“Naruto,” he says, contemplating, “Your dad… do you know who he’s working for?”

“I don’t know anything about him other than the fact that I’m programmed to find him.”

“How are you gonna find him without information?”

Naruto shakes his head. “I haven’t figured out that part yet.”

“Can you scan places for information?”

“What?”

“I think I know where to go,” he says, thoughts racing to formulate a plan.

/

The house remains the same way Sasuke left it: quiet, empty. Nothing but a skeletal framework of wood. The plants are brown and brittle, the leftover food on the table eaten by mold. Naruto’s footsteps threaten to break the floorboards.

“Can you be quiet,” Sasuke grumbles.

“Sorry,” Naruto says sheepishly, but only marginally lightens his steps. “Heavy metal.” He looks around, eyes scanning the entire place. “This is where your brother lived?”

“That’s what we’re here to confirm,” he says.

Naruto stares at him, smiling. Then, he stiffens. “Scanning two-meter radius. Processing information. 10%, 15%, 20%...” he starts counting idly, and Sasuke looks outside just to make sure. Walking around with a golden-haired, nearly six-foot tall and orange android feels like walking with a target on his back. Naruto is as discreet as an ambulance.

“Information downloaded,” Naruto recites. “Cross referencing data to open database. Two significant matches found. Electricity bill from Raiku Company.” His eyes move to Sasuke’s. “Raiku Company, founded in 1987. Owned by a branch of Mishima Zaibatsu.”

Sasuke walks closer to listen.

“Mutare DNA identified. Scanning internal documents. Two years ago, the Mishima Zaibatsu acquired a genetic research facility. Exact address unknown. Searching for specimen transfer locations now.”

He watches as Naruto idles for a bit, eyes glazed for a long while Sasuke debates calling him out. Then, he straightens and says, “Location acquired. Cloud temple, 32 kilometers away.”

“We have to go,” Sasuke says, making to move but Naruto stops him.

“Current weather conditions are not ideal for travel,” he says evenly, and squeezes Sasuke’s wrist. His eyes start to turn back to its bright blue. “Maybe we can spend one more night planning and we’ll go in the morning.”

Sasuke looks away.

“Come on,” he says, looking a bit concerned. “Let’s go back.”

A snowstorm falls in the evening when they return to their accommodation. Sasuke retreats to the shower as Naruto plugs himself to the wall to recharge. Later, when Sasuke has used up all the hot water and has stepped out of the shower, the lights flicker like Morse code until it eventually powers off. He follows Naruto’s low mechanical hum from where he’s seated on the ground.

“Naruto?”

“’M here.”

“Are you okay?”

“I was at 80% already,” he says. “I’m alright. Might need help with the wires, though.” Sasuke follows his voice. His toes hit something until he feels Naruto’s hand around his right ankle. He crouches down, hand blindly reaching for the outlet until he finally unplugs Naruto’s wires out of the socket. Naruto’s breathing is low, warm, and Sasuke unconsciously gravitates to it in the coldness of the room.

The light flickers back on but it’s faint, a single, hazy light above them that barely does anything but highlight Naruto’s watchful eyes.

Quietly, he says, “Sasuke.”

Sasuke swallows as Naruto’s hand moves from his ankle to his arm then to his hair to brush away the wet locks. His eyes drop to Sasuke’s mouth. The walls of the room are cold to the touch, Naruto isn’t. He presses forward until he’s breathing against Sasuke’s lips, not quite touching.

“Sasuke,” he tries again, nose nudging against his.

If Naruto’s skin is warm, then his mouth is a fucking furnace. The slow press of their lips has Sasuke’s chest tightening. It feels like being stabbed by a hundred tiny blunt blades, piercing his skin and leaving him squirming. He feels breathless, the way he gets during a fight.

When they pull away, Sasuke swallows. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Huh?” Naruto looks dazed, eyes catching Sasuke’s mouth again and his lips following once more as though he can’t resist. The light flickers off again. When it turns back on, Naruto pulls away. “I, um,” he mutters, “I saw it on TV, I think. I didn’t know what it—I don’t know what it was for but you were so close and I felt like doing it. I think people call it an _urge_.”

“Huh.” Sasuke licks his lips, and Naruto’s eyes follow the motion. “You should stop watching TV.”

Naruto happily nudges his nose against Sasuke’s. “Yeah right.”

“Idiot,” Sasuke mutters and lets himself be pulled in again. Outside, the snow continues to fall.

/

Sasuke aims a kick to the side of his head. Naruto barely manages to dodge, the foot hitting his shoulder instead. They go through a succession of parrying: punch, block, retaliate, uppercut, uppercut, block, punch. The audience _oohs_ and _aahs_ at every single move.

Naruto thunders a low kick on his lower leg, making Sasuke’s knees buckle. He retaliates with a high kick of his own which Naruto powerfully blocks. Sasuke doesn’t retract his foot, instead, he lifts it higher for a harder kick that disarms Naruto until Sasuke can spin-kick him square on the chest.

Naruto flies far back.

Sasuke follows, putting his entire weight on Naruto’s body and unforgivingly throwing a barrage of punches. When Naruto manages to lamely block a punch with a single arm, he slides his hand to Sasuke’s and holds. He catches his other hand with in a strong fist and uses both grips to pull him closer with a reverent breath of, “Sasuke.”

“I’ll kill you,” Sasuke threatens, teeth clenching.

Naruto does nothing but stare up at him with wild fascination. Sasuke feels his entire body burn, feels his thoughts go haywire until it registers. He feels something—anger maybe—clamber from his chest to his throat in a muffled garble. “Sasuke,” Naruto repeats, like he can’t believe a single thing of what’s happening. Like they aren’t in the arena fighting in front of a crowd.

“ _I’ll kill you_ ,” Sasuke repeats but Naruto’s bloodied face just splits to a smile.

He breathes like Sasuke’s air. “I missed you.”

/

Cloud temple looks imposing. It towers over the rest of the area, six tiers up, black and white and brick red. When they arrive inside, there’s nothing but lion statues and hole-filled paper lanterns pirouetting from the topmost ceiling.

It’s common sense to climb upwards until they find something, someone. He doesn’t know what he’s expecting. Even Naruto has warned him that Itachi could possibly not be here. They reach the top floor and see no one.

Naruto looks around unsurely.

“I’ll look here,” Sasuke says. “Go to the other side.”

A hand stops him from walking. “Wait, is it really a good idea to split up?”

“I can handle myself, Naruto. And you can handle yourself—mostly.”

“I’m gonna elect to ignore that backhanded compliment,” Naruto says, pulling him closer. “But really, is it really the best idea to split up?”

Sasuke brushes his hand away. “Stop being a baby. Can androids even feel fear?”

“I’m not scared!” he huffs. “I just don’t really wanna lose sight of you.”

“I will kick you six floors down if you don’t leave me alone.”

“Sasuke,” he hisses, reaching for him again with a tighter grip.

Sasuke tilts his head. It works, sort of, whatever he’s planning. Naruto loosens his grip and the furrow on his eyebrows soften as he follows, leaning closer to press his mouth on Sasuke’s except Sasuke drives it away with a palm before it can even touch. He whines.

“Six floors down, Naruto,” Sasuke says, pulling away. “Get going.”

“Meanie,” Naruto grumbles but lets go anyway.

There’s nothing in the tiny room he enters in. Nothing but empty glass cases and dust bunnies collecting in the corner. Nothing everywhere he looks in this side of the temple. When he returns to where he and Naruto split up three minutes later, he isn’t there.

He gives it a minute more before he goes to check.

When he enters the archway, time stops. All the seconds, minutes, hours he spent on training crystallizes in one moment when he sees Itachi on the chair, draped in a black robe, looking as though he’d been expecting Sasuke. And maybe he had.

His blood freezes over. “Itachi.”

“Sasuke,” he says, examining his little brother. “It’s good to see you.”

“You have the audacity—” Sasuke clenches his fist, and he steps closer. “What are you doing here?”

“You came here for me. I assume you know what I’m doing here.”

“You’re working with the Mishima Zaibatsu.”

Itachi regards him indifferently. “You’ve done your research.”

“I’ve been doing it for years since you killed our family and left me,” Sasuke says, moving closer, and if Itachi notices he doesn’t show. “And now… it’s time for me to kill you.”

He sprints to Itachi but he doesn’t even move an inch. Sasuke only finds out why when Naruto appears from nowhere, blocking his attack, just a few inches before he reaches Itachi.

“Naruto?” he calls, incredulous, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Emergency programming,” Naruto recites monotonously. “Eliminating threat.”

He punches Sasuke across the face and kicks him back. Shocked, Sasuke staggers all the way back to where he came from. When he regains his footing, he lets out a shaky breath, blood oozing from his split lip. Tone in disbelief, he says, “You’re with Itachi?”

But Naruto doesn’t answer. Instead, he charges to Sasuke in full force and attacks him again. Sasuke manages to block his punch but fails to deflect the strong fist to his core. He doubles-over, heaving, and gets elbowed down too until he’s kneeling. Hands slamming to the ground. Naruto kicks him downwards until his entire body is pressed to the ground too.

“You…” he rasps, head to the ground, palm scraping against the floor, “You traitor.”

He feels Naruto’s foot press his head harder to the ground until Itachi speaks.

“Naruto, power down. Enter standby.”

Naruto stills, like a rubber band being stretched taut. Then, he drops to the ground like a dead body, eyes open but blank and staring at Sasuke’s glaring ones. Sasuke manages to stand up, breathing heavy. Gritting his teeth, he lowly says, “You and Naruto used me.”

“Naruto is programmed the way he is.” Itachi stands up. “It was your choice whether to trust him or not.”

Sasuke gets into stance. “Your little robot tricked me.”

“I don’t know what you mean. He doesn’t belong to anyone,” Itachi says with a ghost of a bemused smile, “but he does answer to me.”

Sasuke yells and lunges to attack.

/

It’s the longest round of battles Sasuke has had so far. One win from Naruto, one win from him. Whoever gets the second point wins. He blocks Naruto’s punch and ducks to send a low kick to his left hip. Naruto wobbles. Sasuke uses the quick show of weakness to kick Naruto’s right leg. He staggers and falls to the ground.

Sasuke follows him. He punches Naruto on alternating sides of his face. One, two, three, four. The fifth one comes a bit too slow and Naruto manages to bury his broken hands to Sasuke’s collar. He pulls it down to headbutt him, head metal and hard and fucking painful. Sasuke groans, head spinning for the quickest second, and then for another second more when Naruto shoves his at his shoulder. He pushes Sasuke back until his head hits the floor and Naruto is hovering over him with heavy breathing.

The screaming of the audience doesn’t even register in his ears anymore. Everything feels watered down. The only thing he sees is Naruto’s battered face above his and his blue eyes looking down at Sasuke.

“Sasuke…” he thinks he hears Naruto mutter but he isn’t sure. By the time Naruto opens his mouth once more, Sasuke has shoved him back down to the ground for one final, ending blow.

/

When he comes to, it’s to dim lights and to even dimmer senses. There’s no crowd, no people, no loud sounds. Just a low murmur of voices like a radio station turned down to its lowest volume. All at once, he feels everything ache.

He doesn’t even realize the pain has made him close his eyes. When he opens it, Kakashi is slumped over him, muttering something. Sasuke doesn’t even make the effort to understand what he’s trying to say.

The first thing he says is, “Where’s Naruto?”

“Naruto?” Both his eyebrows lift, eyes blinking in slow confusion. “You’re not gonna ask who won?”

He closes his eyes when he remembers. “Well, who did?”

“You did, Sasuke,” he says. “But you passed out right after Naruto did. It took the judges a few minutes to deliberate on whether or not it counts but they eventually ruled out your win.” Kakashi lightly pats his probably fractured shoulder. “You won, Sasuke.”

It doesn’t make him feel better, surprisingly. “Where’s Naruto?”

He hears Kakashi sigh. “He’s getting fixed up.”

“Where is he?”

“In the next room,” Kakashi says, examining him. “If you want to see him, we’re gonna have to wait for the doctor to check up on you first and clear you for the next battle.”

Sasuke breathes slow. “How many minutes more?”

“Ten,” Kakashi says. “You’re so close now, Sasuke. Don’t do anything reckless.”

Sasuke closes his eyes and rests against the pillow.

/

Sasuke sees Naruto four minutes before his battle and it’s not enough. Four minutes is not enough for months of deception and the thousand questions Sasuke has in his mind. When Naruto sees him, his eyes do that flicker it used to do whenever he sees Sasuke. It’s his only sign of acknowledgement, the wires protruding from his body and sticking to the wall limiting his movements.

“Sasuke,” Naruto murmurs when Sasuke crouches down next to him. “You’re here.”

Sasuke slaps him across the face.

Naruto holds a hand to his cheek, and Sasuke probably shouldn’t have done that to a recharging android but his hands itch to do something. His fingers itching to touch. Naruto’s mouth pulls up to a tiny, sad smile as he asks, “Is defeating me not enough?”

“ _You_ lied to me,” he says, low, angry.

“I didn’t.”

Sasuke’s eyes flash. “And you have the audacity to lie even until now.”

“I never lied to you,” Naruto says, face open and honest, perfect for deception. “If you ask me what I know now, I’ll answer everything. I’ll do anything to prove it to you.”

“You work for Itachi.”

“I—” Naruto’s face crumples, “No, I don’t.” When Sasuke raises an eyebrow, he explains, “I don’t—work for him. Not now, not then. Not ever. For some reason, it’s embedded in me to answer to his commands but I have never seen or talked to him or even met him before we went to the temple. I promise.” His expression turns sullen. “I—I tried to hurt you, I know. But it wasn’t my choice. I was programmed to protect him and the system viewed you as a threat so I had to attack. If I had the choice… I would have never hurt you, Sasuke. You’re far too important to me.”

“Who do you work for, then?”

“My orders come from the system and I don’t know who commands it,” he explains, “but I know—I’m 100% sure it’s not from Mishima Zaibatsu and G corporation. Maybe it’s from Minato, my dad. But I wouldn’t know why he’d tie me to.. to Itachi. It’s why I need to find my dad. So I know my purpose.”

“And Itachi? Where is he now?”

“Like I told you, Sasuke, I can’t directly access information about him. All I know is that he’s alive. Whatever happened that night in the temple, whatever you did, it didn’t kill him.”

When Sasuke remains unspeaking, Naruto says, “I never lied to you, Sasuke. Everything I ever told you is real.” He reaches out to gingerly touch Sasuke’s face. “Everything I feel for you… they’re all real.”

Sasuke asks, “Why are you in the tournament?”

“To find you,” he admits. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since you left.”

Naruto continues stroking his cheek. Sasuke mutely lets him, watching as Naruto infinitesimally draws closer, even despite the wires on his back straining. “I missed you,” he mutters. “You’re the only thing that makes me feel alive.”

When he presses closer, Sasuke can’t find it in him to pull away. Naruto sighs as if he’s been waiting for this for a long, long time. And maybe he has. Their lips meet in a soft graze until Naruto is biting the bruise on his lip to get him to open up. Ignoring the sharp pain, Sasuke does. Naruto licks into his mouth. He feels it: the same tightening in his chest, the needle-prickling on his skin. Naruto’s mouth is fire against his. Sasuke feels his senses float.

The light knock on the door pulls them away.

“You’re up next,” Naruto mutters, and then he smiles, all teeth and bright and looking like the same Naruto he first met. He presses one last kiss to Sasuke's mouth. “Go ‘get em.”

Sasuke breathes and pulls away.

/

The cheers are louder this time. Sasuke takes his place on the left side of the ring and tries to drown out the noise. His bones ache and his ribs hurt but he feels more alive than ever, blood roaring, head clearer than it has been for the past seven battles.

Overhead, he hears the speakers boom.

_Get ready for the next battle._

**Author's Note:**

> part 2 coming up not soon.... ty for reading! reach me [here](https://econaruto.tumblr.com)


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